Improvement in dry gas-meters



NA PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, Dv C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES O. LLOYD, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO vHIMS'ELF AND R. H. GRATZ 8:7 OO., OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN DRY GAS-METERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,448, dated May 5, 1863.

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES O. LLOYD, of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dry Gas-Meters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a view of the upper side of a dry gas-meter, having its top plate and part of the upper plate of its gas-chest removed, showing my improvement applied; Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section along the dotted line a: of Fig. l, and Fig. 3, a view of-the under side or face of either ofthe sliding caps of the valveslike letters and numerals indicating the same objects when in the diEerent figures.

The nature of my invention consists, substantially as hereinafter described and speci ed, in dispensing with the use of packing around the shafts of the spiral flange-wheel and the index-mover, or either of them, by placing the said spiral flan ge-wheel outside of and separated from the gas-chest; in the employment of a supplementary packing-box, in combination with each vof the vibratory lag shafts used for operating the valves and index, the said packing-boxes being'placed in the top plate of the gas-chest, thus restricting the use of packing-boxes to the flag-shafts alone, where the friction is greatly less and also more easily overcome in the arrangement of the slide-valves in such relation to the final outlet-channel that the latter shall serve as a single direct outlet-channel from the said valves, for the purpose of diminishing the friction ofthe outgoing gas and lessening the number of channels in the meter, and in making the two side faces of either the cap or seat of each ofthe valves to have small recesses therein, cut so as to produceclearing-edges, which will, during the motion of the slide, serve to keep the opposite faces clear of all deposits from the gas, and thus insure the required continual closely-fitting contact of the said faces.

In the drawings, A is the gas-chest, B B', the valves, O, the gallery or chamber outside of the gas-chest; D D', the diaphragm-chambers. The diaphragms, not being required to be shown, are merely indicated by dotted lines 1J t* in Fig. 2.

E E' are the vibratory flag-shafts, c2 c their respective supplementary packing-boxes, and c4 e5 their lever-arms, whereby the shafts are connected through the coupling-pieces F F to the respective sliding portions b2 b3 of the valves; G, the spiral flange-Wheel, g its leverarm, and H H' the coupling-pieces whereby lthe said arm g' is connected to the arms e6 e7 of the respective Hagshafts.

The dotted lines l 1 in Fig. l indicate the usual index-moving shaft and flange-wheel as in connection with the spiral flange-wheel G. The index, not being required to be shown, is not indicated in the drawings.

The numerals 2 and 3 in Fig. 3 indicate the small recesses in the side faces of the upper or sliding portion, b2, of the valve B. The slides of the valves are represented in the drawings as being in the positions in which the gas in the gas-chest A passes downward through one of the openings in their respective seats to the outer side of the diaphragm in the chamber below it, lwhile the gas on the inner side of the said diaphragm is passing through an opening in the partition I into and through its correspondin g channel, K or K', to the middle opening in the seat of its valve, and thence into the iinal outlet-channel L. The arrows l and 2 in Fig. 2 indicate these courses of the gas through the valve B, and the arrows 3 and 4 in Fig. l its entrance into the gas-chest and subsequent exit from the meter.

As the flagshafts E E are arranged through the gas-chest A, and their arms e6 e7 required to vibrate, as indicated by the dotted lines 4 4', in order to give the necessary rotary motion to the spiral iiange-wheel G, the supplementary packing-boxes c2 c3 become necessary to prevent the gas from escaping around the said shafts into the gallery U. They are constructed for packingand adjustment, substantially in the usual wellknown manner, and xed in the top plateof the gas-chest, as seen in Figs. l and 2. The dag-shafts E E'are connected to their respective slides b2 b3 of the valves by means of their respective Xed leverarms c4 c5 and connecting-rods F F', substantially as represented in the same figures. The ends of the longer arms of the nag-shafts are iitted with adjustable heads c6 c7, as shown in Figs. 1 and'2, so tha-t the lengths of the said arms can be readily adjusted as may be required. The spiral Harige-wheel G is constructed in the usual well-known form, and is supported in a vertical position, and without packing, so that it can be freely rotated in any suitable portion ofthe gallery C outside of and separated from the gas-chest A, and is connected to the arms e6 e7 of the two vibratory flag-shafts .E E' by means of its lever-arm g and the two coupling-pieces H H', substantially as represented in Figs. 1 and 2. The outlet-channel L is made direct or straight and to extend from directly beneath the middie openings of the valve-seats-into both of which openings it communicatesto the outside of the meter, as indicated in Fig. 1. It may be placed upon the upper side of the top plate of the diaphragm-chambers D D', orit may be attached along the under side of the same, as seen in Fig. 2. The clearing-edges 2 2 3 in the side faces of the one portion of each of the valves are formed. by cutting, with a round file or otherwise, the small recesses 2. 3 2 transversely in the opposite edges of their side faces, substantially as represented in Fig. 3.

Uperation: As the gas, in passing under pressure through the meter, causes the diaphragms to move alternately inward and outward' within their chambers D D', the flagshafts E E', being connected to the said diaphragms in the usual manner, are therefore y caused thereby to vibrate so as to give the required continuous rotary motion to the spiral iange-wheel Gr; but in the meters now in general use the shaft of the spiral flange-wheel passes through. a tightly-fitting stuffing-box, and the power applied to rotate it and to move the valves operates at the ends of long leverarms, whereas in my improvement the said spiral flange-wheel G is placed outside of and separated from the gas-chest A, and therefore its shaft does not require any packing, and, for the same reason, neither does the index-moving shaft 1. Consequently the greater part of the power heretofore required to operate the index is reserved to aid in overcoming the friction of the valves and of the flag-shafts in their packing-boxes; and as the vibratory motions of the dag-shafts in this my improved meter are within very short limits, and therefore not requiring that the packing should be as tightly pressed around them as where it is required to keep the gas from escaping around a continuouslyrotating shaft, the power required to overcome the friction produced by the two supplementary packing-boxes e2 e3 is but a fraction of that reserved or gained by freeing the spiral flange-wheel and index-mover, while the power required to move the valves is less, or at least is not any greater, than heretofore. It will therefore be readily perceived that this part of my improvement effects a great increase in the power heretofore available or reserved to operate the valves and overcome the generalfriction of the joints or pivots of the machine. In a practical test, where the gas was allowed to pass at the usual pressure freely through the meters under test, it was demonstrated that at least thirty-three per cent. more gas passed through my improved meter of `the construction herein described in the same time than through a meter of the construction now in general use of the same'size or number. As the iinal outletchannel L leads in a straight line from the central openings in the valve-seats to the outside of the meter, as described, the gas passes out more freely than heretofore, and, besides, by the arrangement of the valves in the relation to it described, the whole number of the channels in the meteris reduced from ve to three, so that the friction of the gas, in its passage out from the valves, is proportionately less.

In the operation of the clearing-edges produced in the side faces of the valves by the small recesses 2 and 3, as described, it will be readily seen. that as the said recesses are in the opposite sides of each of the faces in which they are cut, and extend across the faces a little beyond each other, as indicated by the dotted straight lines in Fig. 3, they will, during the movements of the slides, keep the opposite faces of the valves entirely free from the usual tarry deposits, and thus continuously preserve their proper closelyfitting contact.

Having thus fully described my improve- `ment indry gas-meters, andpcinted out its utility, what I claim as new therein of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Dispensing with the use of packing around the shafts of the spiral flange-wheel and the index-mover, or either of them, by placing thesaid spiral ange-wheel Gr outside of, and separated from, thegas-chest, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

2. The employment of a supplementary packing-box, in combination with each of the vibratory dag-shafts used for operating the valves and index, the said packing-boxes being placed in the top plate of the gas-chest, substantially as described and set forth, for the purpose specified.

3. The arrangement of the valves B B' in such relation to the final outlet-channel L that the latter shall serve as a single and direct outlet-channel from the central openings ofthe said valves to the outside of the meter, substantially as described and set forth, for the purpose specified.

4. Making the small recesses 2 2 3 in the two side faces of either the cap or seat of each of the valves of a dry gas-meter, substantially as described and set forth, for the purpose specified.

Witnesses: CEAS. C. LLOYD.

BENJ. Monison, Tnos. J; MAGILL. 

